


The Aftermath of Hope

by MadMegatax



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa 3: The End of 希望ヶ峰学園 | The End of Kibougamine Gakuen | End of Hope's Peak High School
Genre: (while trying to be canon compliant), Fix-It, Multi, Post-Canon, Post-Despair
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-10
Updated: 2016-10-17
Packaged: 2018-08-20 13:51:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8251430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadMegatax/pseuds/MadMegatax
Summary: After the Final Killing Game, they live on.Various moments after the series focusing on different characters. Features Juzo living. Will add more characters/pairings as they appear.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So as a way to alleviate my boredom while commuting to work, I've been typing up stuff on my phone while taking the train. And y'know I like Danganronpa a lot so I've been writing a lot of that. I won't deny how indulgent this is but I figure someone might like it? Just know that since this is mostly me typing on my phone it might not be as well edited as I would like.
> 
> And here's the thing about me including Juzo. I'm fine with how things turned out in canon (don't get me wrong it made me sad but I understand why the story ended up like that). It's just that I would much rather write about Kyosuke interacting with Juzo after everything than Kyosuke wandering the world as mysterious cloaked traveller guy. /shrug

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyosuke Munakata experiences a miracle.

Kyosuke Munakata walked away from the cheer and relief of the killing game survivors. Away from the future they were going to build for the world. Away from the hero who would lead everyone to that future.

He had no place in that future, after all. The two people he held dearest in his heart were dead, and the burden he had to bear did not suit the bright future that they had in store.

Perhaps he would travel and tell people of the ways that Chisa and Juzo destroyed and saved the world, to keep their legacy alive. Perhaps he would listen to the pain of those with no one else to turn, to make up for the times he cast a blind eye to the suffering of his friends. Perhaps he would use his eye to look at and care for people as if he were their teacher, and use his sword to push back and defeat despair wherever it lurked.

Kyosuke did not yet know. The only truth that stood out in his mind was that his feet were leading him towards his own future, whatever that may be.

With one last glance to the remains of his failed dreams for Hope’s Peak Academy and now his ruined hope for Future Foundation, he accepted the burden of his friends’ lives and disappeared from this tragic story of hope and despair.

Well, that’s what he intended. 

Instead, he saw something that could only be described as a miracle. A figure approached the bay from the ruined building, almost glowing from the sun that broke through the smog of despair. They stood tall with their head held high, and a blazing glint in their eye of someone who refused to die. That person’s very existence left him at a complete loss of words.

“Hello, Munakata.”

“K-Kirigiri…” Her left side was bandaged and one eye was covered in gauze, but there was no doubt that Kyoko Kirigiri stood before him. “You’re alive…?”

“Yes, thanks to Seiko Kimura and Mikan Tsumiki.” 

Blunt and concise. It seemed like Kirigiri’s near death experience didn’t change her penchant for vague truths, and Kyosuke bit back the condescension that still came easily to him even after all the deaths and truths laid bare to him over the past day. Instead, he asked the obvious question that came to his mind.

“How?”

Kirigiri stared him down, unafraid to confront him despite her injured state. “Before that, I need to understand something. Where were you going?”

Kyosuke looked away, and this time couldn’t keep his scorn and shame out of his words. “It doesn’t matter. I have no place in this happy scene, especially now that you’ve somehow been resurrected from the dead and will be reunited with your loved one soon.”

She continued on, ignoring his spiteful comment. “What is it that you’re planning to do then?”

“I have my own burdens to carry, and there’s no place for that here.” The sentiment sounded weaker than it had before, perhaps because he didn’t expect the same enigmatic words to work for this dectective.

However, instead of pressing him for details, she said, “There’s no need for you to carry those burdens alone. There are people who care for you and would try to share the burden with you.”

Kyosuke winced. That had been true in the past, and he always relied on the two people closest to him for that. But they had chosen to keep their own burdens to themselves instead of allowing him to help, and he turned a blind eye to it. He had no desire to ask for that again.

“I do not wish to further burden you or your classmates.” He turned around and walked away once more, having no more interest in indulging such a woman whose time would be better spent reuniting with those who truly cared about her.

“I wasn’t talking about myself or my friends.”

He stopped. “What do you mean then?”

“Don’t take what I’m about to tell you or the actions I took for granted. Be thankful for such a miracle, even if you think that you don’t deserve it.”

“Get to the point!” Kyosuke shouted. His coat fluttered around him as he spun to face her.

Kirigiri spoke, and his eyes widened. Then, he ran back towards the building as fast as he could.

The path Kyosuke took towards his future no longer led to a vast and lonely unknown, but instead into the depths of the very place that took everything from him. And Kyosuke knew without looking back that Kirigiri was walking on a path to her own future as well. 

Towards what they cared about the most.

\---

The underground layer of the Future Foundation’s headquarters was still dark and desolate, with only the red emergency lights illuminating the many halls and stairwells that Kyosuke dashed through, his destination clear in his mind. Jagged piping tore at his jacket as he pivoted around corners, and puddles of water from the leaking walls soaked his shoes and nearly caused him to trip. But he paid it all no mind.

None of that matter compared to what Kirigiri told him.

When he spotted a familiar trail of blood leading to a familiar room, he almost paused from the foreboding weight that nearly made him collapse. Memories of pools of blood flashed in his mind, but he pushed forward. He had no time to waste.

However, he did not even need to enter the power room. 

For on the couch in the library, covered in his own blood and writhing in pain, was Juzo Sakakura.

“Shit!” Juzo cursed, banging his head against the couch. “When is she gonna come back?” His hand flinched towards the large hole in his bloodied shirt, but he gritted his teeth and pulled it away. His other arm hung uselessly off the edge of the couch, the stump where his hand used to be bandaged up tightly.

Kyosuke couldn't speak. He couldn't move. He couldn't even think. Juzo was here alive, despite the fact that he saw Juzo’s dead body with his own eyes. Despite seeing the pain that flashed through Juzo’s eyes as his blade pierced through him.

Juzo lolled his head towards the door to alleviate his discomfort, but his frustration transformed into shock when he saw Kyosuke looming in the doorway. He sat up, and his entire body trembled from the effort. “I gotta be losing it, right? I'm in so much pain that I'm hallucinating him, right?”

Kyosuke felt a sick guilt settle in his gut at how Juzo first assumed his presence was a product of his mind. He cleared his throat and spoke.

“No, I'm here.” 

“Munakata…?” The way Juzo said his name was so fragile and small, like he was afraid to say it. Nothing like the loud and confident person he usually was.

Kyosuke felt tears gather in his eyes and made no effort to hide it. “Sakakura… you're alive.”

“So are you.” Juzo smiled, and though he was still visibly in pain he had never looked so relieved.

“Thanks to what you did, even though I…” Kyosuke couldn't finish his sentence, as the memory of his blade piercing through Juzo played over and over again in his mind.

“...It wasn't anything I didn't deserve, so don't get too worked up about it.” Juzo tried to shrug, but his wince of pain ruined his nonchalant words.

“Stop that!” Before Kyosuke could think about it, he dashed across the room and knelt in front of Juzo. He grasped Juzo’s hand tightly in his, and not for the first time that day he found himself crying without restraint. “Sakakura… no, Juzo… you and Chisa both… no matter what the two of you may have done, I won't ever stop caring about you.”

Juzo stared at Kyosuke. He stared and stared, but Kyosuke refused to look away. He had been granted this miracle and he would endure this burden, so long as Juzo remained with him. Finally, Juzo laughed. A dark, bitter laugh that echoed throughout the room.

“I’ve waited so long for you to drop the formality and now it’s like this...? And you don’t even know what I’ve done!”

“Juzo. There’s something you need to know.” Kyosuke’s voice wavered, struggling against the sorrow that pushed against his throat. “Chisa fell into despair.”

“W-What? No way…” Juzo’s face what little color it had left, and he swayed where he sat. Kyosuke reached up to his shoulder to steady him with his free hand, and though he jolted he did not pull away from Kyosuke’s hand.

“I don’t know how or when it happened. And that is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life. But Juzo... I’m still glad I met her.”

“Even though she fell into despair?”

In the back of Kyosuke’s mind, his vow to eliminate despair pushed against the precious memories of his friends. But he no longer desired that future of absolutes. “It doesn’t change what I felt for her, and I want to hold onto that. But I regret not knowing what had become of her until it was too late. Now that a miracle has brought you back, I want to have that same chance with you. I want you to share your burdens with me as I have done with you.”

Learning about Chisa left Juzo in a daze, and he spent several minutes staring at nothing. Kyosuke kept a firm grip on his hand, patiently waiting for him to process everything. Finally, Juzo refocused his gaze on Kyosuke, and the earnest expression he saw on his friend’s face left him feeling lightheaded. “If Chisa was alive, would you want to talk to her about what happened?”

“Of course,” Kyosuke said with no hesitation.

“Would you forgive her?”

“I… don’t know. I would decide after I heard all the burdens that she shouldered on her own.”

Juzo said nothing for another moment. Then, he sighed, as if a wall within him had collapsed. “What I did was inexcusable, and you might hate me for it.”

Kyosuke shook his head. “That doesn’t change my resolve. I want to hear what you went through. Tell me what you wanted to say before.”

Juzo pulled his hand out of Kyosuke’s, and hunched forward so that Kyosuke could not see his face. “I knew that Enoshima was guilty, but I still let her go.”

Kyosuke said nothing, although he had already suspected as much.

“I was such a coward. I had her right there, but she overpowered me and then she… she threatened me.” Juzo’s entire body tensed up at the memory. “So I let her bring about the end of the world. And if that wasn’t enough, I was a coward every time we met because I could have just told you the truth but I never did. Enoshima knew the best thing to torture me with, so that it would haunt me for the rest of my life.”

“Please tell me, Juzo.” Though Kyosuke had stopped crying, his eyes glistened at the knowledge of his friend’s pain. Not once had he recoiled in disgust at Juzo’s actions.

Juzo took a deep breath, and then another. The momentary quiet lingered in the room, and Kyosuke stayed still, as if any one movement would chase away Juzo’s words. Finally, Juzo spoke, a soft whisper that struck Kyosuke deep in his heart.

“She knew that I loved you, and she blackmailed me with that.”

Kyosuke’s mind swarmed, and everything fit together in his mind with an unexpected clarity that nearly stunned him. Every smile, every hesitant touch, every withdrawn silence, every haunted look that Juzo had whenever Kyosuke cursed Junko Enoshima for the world of despair that they lived in. Just like when he accepted the truth about Chisa, he couldn’t understand how he made sense of the world without knowing this.

Juzo continued, the floodgates now opened. “And now you know my secret. After all this time! Funny, huh?! Enoshima can’t hold that over my head anymore! Hear that, you fucking bitch?! You don’t get to control my life anymore!” Juzo’s body shook with laughter as he looked up to the ceiling, like he could see her ghost still haunting him. And for the first time ever, Kyosuke saw tears fall from his friend’s eyes. He watched Juzo laugh and sob at the ghosts of his past, and he swore to himself that he would never forget this sight. 

Eventually, Juzo calmed down enough so that he was no longer crying, but he was still breathing heavily from his outburst. He sniffled as he wiped away some tears and refused to look at Kyosuke. “Well, there you have it. Even though you came all the way back for me when you had every reason not to. I wouldn’t blame you if you just left me here. Would serve me right, that’s for sure, but-” Juzo’s words cut off in a grunt of pain as Kyosuke wrapped an arm around him and pulled him up. Kyosuke pulled Juzo’s arm around his shoulder so that Juzo leaned against him for support. “Munakata, what are you doing?!”

“We’ve stayed here long enough. You may be alive but you still need help.” Kyosuke took a step forward, and the way that he held onto Juzo’s arm meant that Juzo had no choice but to follow, even though his body shuddered from the pain. “It might be painful, but please endure for a bit longer.”

“B-But, why? What about-”

“Juzo, thank you.” Kyosuke felt Juzo freeze against him. “Thank you for sharing your burden with me. You don’t have to suffer by yourself anymore. After all, you will always be my friend.”

“...Thank you, Kyosuke.” Kyosuke felt some tears fall on his shoulder, but he said nothing. After all, he had his friend at his side and together they would walk out of this building alive.

Despite all the pain, all the suffering, all the secrets and death and sorrow, the fact that such a miracle could still happen made the path to his future seemed brighter and brighter. And he felt a hope unlike anything else.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kyoko Kirigiri reunites with her friends.

Kyoko approached the edge of the bay, where Makoto’s figure stood silhouetted against the sunset. It was a wondrous sight in itself, seeing the sun after months of red smog polluting the sky. But with Makoto standing there, shoulders squared and facing the horizon despite all the heartbreak and suffering he endured, Kyoko couldn't imagine a more hopeful sight.

And she couldn't imagine anyone else she would rather go to in that moment. 

She took her time walking to him, every other step shocking her with a phantom of the poison that almost tore her body apart. Still, she endured that pain. It was proof that she had survived, that she had lived. Each click of her heels against the ground was her heart thumping solidly in her chest, and so her feet did not waver.

Kyoko wondered how she should explain the situation to Makoto. He would certainly want to hear why she didn't share her forbidden action with him, although he probably had his own ideas by now. Knowing how much Makoto had been at her side both in investigations and friendship, his ideas were likely correct. Still, at the very least she needed to apologize for leaving him in that position, though she did not regret it for one moment.

Soon, she was close enough that when her heels clicked against the ground one last time, Makoto could hear it. His back stiffened before he slowly turned around, eyes full of wonder. 

“Kyoko?” Her name left his lips in a soft exhale, and the intensity of his stare nearly caused Kyoko to look away.

“Yes.” 

She wondered how to best start her apology, but before she was even given a chance, Makoto moved. It was too quick for her to react, the way he closed the distance between them with flailing limbs that nearly made him lose his balance. She staggered as he collapsed onto her, and he wrapped his arms so tightly around her that a sudden flash of pain flared across her injured side. She opened her mouth to complain, but could form no words as she realized something. 

Makoto Naegi was bawling.

Nothing like the frustrated tears that gathered at his eyes whenever the horrifying despair of the world broke through his optimistic disposition. Nothing like the tears that trailed down his face whenever he remembered his dead classmates. No, these were huge tears that splashed down in big droplets down his face. Tear after tear streamed down and he made no effort to brush them away. Instead, Makoto clutched onto the back of her shirt and burrowed his face into her shoulder. Before long, her shirt was damp. Kyoko was sure that he was getting some snot on her shirt as well, but she said nothing about it.

After a moment of hesitation, Kyoko leaned into him and pulled him closer with her uninjured arm. Though as a detective her first impulse was to hide her emotions, she had no reason to do so now, and so she smiled as they held each other close. His warmth seeped into her, and she was overwhelmed with how comforting it was. Kyoko was suddenly struck with the memory of how she held Makoto’s hand with her own uncovered one the last time they had seen each other. It was a small moment of comfort for herself before her time was up, and she treasured that warmth as the last good thing in her life. Now, however, against the setting sun, she felt like she could live forever so long as she had this warmth at her side.

A foolhardy notion, but one that made Kyoko breathed out a soft sigh of relief nonetheless.

He was alive.

She was alive.

She indulged herself in his embrace for longer than perhaps necessary before she finally pulled away. It took a second to organize her thoughts before she spoke, “Makoto, before anything else, I would like to apologize for putting you in a situation like that.”

Makoto frowned. “Why are you even apologizing? If it weren’t for me, you…”

“Makoto, I made that choice. You may not like it, but if necessary I would make that choice again.” Her sharp tone left no room for debate. She refused to let him blame himself for it.

Makoto opened and closed his mouth several times, his disagreement plain on his face. “I still wish you had told me.”

“If I had, there was a possibility of you running right into the hallway.”

Makoto said nothing.

“Still, Makoto… thank you for not giving up on hope.” She had chosen her words carefully back then, knowing the gruesome sight that would await Makoto when he woke. With nothing else left, she wanted Makoto to keep moving forward more than anything else.

Makoto smiled wryly. “Well, my only redeeming quality is my optimism after all.”

“Of course.” She returned the smile, and her heart had never felt lighter.

“Makotoooooooo!” a loud cry echoed across the bay, and both Kyoko and Makoto turned to the figure quickly approaching. “So now that the Remnants of Despair are gone, what do we… Kyoko?”

“Hello, Hina.”

“Kyoko!” This time, Kyoko was prepared for the desperate hug of her friend, but Hina squeezed much tighter than Makoto. Kyoko let out a small noise of discomfort, and Hina quickly released Kyoko from her death grip. “Sorry, sorry! It’s just… you’re alive!” The tears running down Hina’s face were much like the ones that had run down Makoto’s face minutes ago, and it made Kyoko happy to know that her friends cared about her so much.

She would have to think about the repercussions of this killing game soon enough, but for now she let herself relax and enjoy the peace that spread throughout her body from knowing that she could experience this moment.

This was a world of hope, and she was happy to be alive in it.

After the moment shared between the three survivors of the Final Killing Game, they regrouped with Byakuya and Hiro. Hiro shrieked at seeing Kyoko alive, but after realizing that it wasn't her spirit coming back to haunt him for the money he owed her, he scooped Kyoko straight off the ground and spun her around. While Makoto and Hina yelled at him to put her down, Byakuya grumbled about he had just finished updating Toko with information that was apparently out of date. Still, there was a rare genuine smile on his face, and after Kyoko was back on her feet he gave her one single nod of respect. A surprising gesture from the ex Ultimate Affluent Progeny to be sure, so Kyoko returned the gesture. 

After the initial elation of reunion simmered into an exhausted peace, everyone gathered at Byakuya's makeshift tent. Byakuya attempted to contact Toko with the news, but she and Komaru didn’t pick up. With an irritated scowl, he sent some of his men to prepare the helicopter for departure. However, Kyoko said that they should wait before leaving. A specific reason lingered in her mind, something that she needed to inform them about soon, but no one questioned her motives. Instead, Byakuya let out a sigh of exhaustion and agreed that it was a good time to take a small break, especially considering Kyoko’s injured state. With an affectionate roll of her eyes, she decided not to divulge her information just yet, so that everyone could properly relax. 

Due to her injuries, Kyoko was given the chair while everyone gathered around her eagerly. Makoto stood at her side, and Kyoko forced herself not to stare at him. His eyes shined with a bright happiness that threatened to steal all of her attention, so she switched her gaze to her three other friends when Hina had asked the question burning in everyone's mind.

“So, how did you survive? Makoto and I really thought you were dead!”

An easy place to start, at least. “My survival was only achieved through the efforts of Seiko Kimura and Mikan Tsumiki, and even then it came down to what could best be described as a miracle.”

“Mikan Tsumiki? The former Ultimate Nurse as well as a Remnant of Despair?” Byakuya asked. There was a pensive look on his face, the gears already turning in his mind.

“Indeed. I'm still unaware of what brought her to this location, but when I came to she was tending to my wounds.”

Makoto shifted uneasily next to her, and Hina grimaced. “Let's get through one story at a time. Otherwise we'll be here all night!”

“Very well.” Kyoko continued from the beginning, when she had first read her bracelet. To her, it was not a choice, but a time limit for solving the case. Any other alternative was simply unthinkable. Makoto made a small noise of protest at that, but Kyoko ignored him.

It was certainly a dangerous scenario for the former Ultimate Detective to face, solving a mystery in less than a day with her life on the line. Of course, she faced a similar scenario during the killing game at Hope’s Peak Academy, so she explored the facility with an unwavering determination to solve the case. She examined each body and each irregularity in the building without lingering on her own worries, and she came up with two conclusions: that they had moved to an underwater replica of the building and that the murders during the time limit were suicides. However, none of these discoveries brought her any closer to removing the death sentence shackled around her wrist. She was quickly running out of time.

It was three time limits in that she discovered a potential second option for survival.

“Kimura, right?” Hina asked, practically bouncing where she stood.

“Yes,” Kyoko said. “While investigating Kimura’s body, I found several containers and syringes. I suspect you are familiar with some of the medicine she created, as you saw its effects on Munakata.”

“But the medicine she used for the poison didn't work for Bandai…” Makoto said.

“Correct, none of her previous medicine worked for this poison, but there was a unique bottle in her possession. One that had no proper description, but a name: Antagonist.”

Thinking back on it, when Kyoko first saw the unusual bottle, it immediately grabbed her attention. Knowing Kimura’s desire to save people and her Ultimate talent, it was highly likely that this medicine was made to combat the poison. However, how it worked or even if it actually worked was unknown, as the knowledge was lost with the death of its creator. Kyoko had intended to analyze the medicine before using it, but the mystery surrounding Sonosuke’s death required her immediate attention. 

She wondered if she could have saved Kizakura had he not fallen down that pit, but she kept that to herself.

“By then, I was out of time, and I wasn't sure that this medicine would in fact save me, so I needed to make sure my findings would be put to good use. As luck would have it, that's when I ran into Makoto and Hina.”

Hina grinned and elbowed Makoto. “More like we found Kyoko gushing about him, right?”

Kyoko felt her face turn red, and chanced a look at Makoto. He was blushing as well, and glanced everywhere except in her direction.

Byakuya clicked his tongue impatiently. “Hina, no more unnecessary comments. I don't want to stay here too long.”

Hina pouted, but said nothing else.

Kyoko took a deep breath to regain her composure, and said, “Well, I'm sure you're all aware of what happened when we met up. I left my notebook for you to use, and then the fourth time limit signaled my death.”

“But you had taken the medicine!” Hiro exclaimed. “You totally survived!”

Byakuya turned his glare to Hiro this time. “There is no need for such obvious statements, since she is standing right here.” Then, he addressed Kyoko. “I'm more interested in the events surrounding your revival. You mentioned Mikan Tsumiki...?”

“Yes, when I came to she was tending to my wounds. She explained that if she arrived any later that it would have been too late. Apparently the drug just slowed down the absorption of the poison, and it is only through Mikan’s medical prowess that I survived.”

“I wish I knew that when I saw her,” Makoto said. “I would have thanked her.”

“So then you made your way back to the surface?” Byakuya asked.

“Not exactly.” Kyoko peered past her friends towards the ruined headquarters, but saw only the rubble and debris. “I was still weak, but I wanted to inspect every remaining mystery about the building, especially the secret Monokuma room I was unable to investigate before. The building was notably different from when I was injected with the poison, and I wanted to find out why.”

“Different?” Makoto asked. Kyoko glanced at him from the corner of her eye, and hid a smile at how realization flashed across his face. “Wait, you mean the lights…?”

“Yes, the emergency lights were on. My bracelet had fallen off as well, so I decided to investigate the one area that most likely held the power to the facility.”

“Hang on a minute…” Hina said. “Wasn't that where…?”

“Juzo Sakakura was? Yes. I found his body on the floor. He was missing a hand, had been stabbed through the chest, and lost a large quantity of blood. To be sure, they were fatal injuries without intervention.”

“Yeah, that's how I saw him last.” Kyoko took a proper look at Makoto and was surprised to see how Makoto hunched in on himself, trembling from some unknown memory. Kyoko never saw such an expression from him before, and it made her wonder what made his eyes gleam with such a sad and twisted intensity. Was this reaction for the man who had hunted him for most of the killing game? Or maybe…

Hina wrapped an arm around Makoto and gave a light squeeze. She said, “Well anyway, Munakata said Sakakura was dead… he died saving all of us.”

Kyoko shook her head. “He was all but dead, but he hadn't perished just yet.”

“What?! You can't be saying…”

“Sakakura is alive. In fact, Munakata is retrieving him now.” Kyoko smirked as she looked at the building.

“WHAT?” Everyone followed Kyoko’s gaze and saw two figures slowly approaching. Sakakura leaned on Munakata for support, and they swayed as they moved towards the pier. After a moment of stunned silence, Makoto, Hina, and Hiro ran to the struggling pair while Byakuya started shouting orders to his men, commanding them to immediately bring a stretcher over. The pier was suddenly filled with commotion and noise, and their small reprieve had ended.

With everyone else too busy to pay attention to Kyoko, she chuckled. It was so easy to break the peace of the moment, but she didn’t mind it one bit. After all, it was a comfort to see her friends so eager to take action. They had no hesitation in moving forward doing what needed to be done.

And she intended to do the same.

If her survival was indeed a miracle, then she wanted to take full advantage of it. She wanted to walk alongside her friends and create the future where everyone felt like they could move forward. The idea fluttered throughout her body, vast and vague, but she fully embraced that unknown. After all, she was a detective, and it was her duty to solve this mystery.

Past all the rushing faces that started to blur together, Kyoko let her gaze drift to Makoto. He was busy pushing against Sakakura’s back in an attempt to offer additional support, but the larger man nearly collapsed on top of him. Still, Makoto persisted, never willing to give up on someone who needed help. She smiled fondly.

She still wanted to ask him what had happened in her absence, but she was in no rush. No matter what unknowns remained in her future, one thing was for certain: she would always stay by Makoto Naegi’s side.

Kyoko stood up and took a step forward, her heels clicking against the ground.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't think I mentioned this before but this is gonna be really indulgent. If I want to write dialogue of information that was already known, then I'm gonna do it. I had intended to cover the _how_ of Juzo's survival in this chapter, but that never really happened. Don't worry, I'll get around to it eventually. After all, this is the secret golden ending so I need to cover everything thoroughly. =P
> 
> On a separate note, I wrote the first section of the reunion concurrently with the first chapter until I decided to focus on the first chapter more. And in the interim I read a lot of fics depicting the Makoto/Kyoko reunion scene. On the one hand, GODDAMMIT EVERYONE BEAT ME TO IT. On the other hand, Makoto always seems to jump into Kyoko's arms and cry into her shoulder. It's weird, but I thought the fact that a bunch of different people thought of it like that was really sweet. It's honestly really hard for me to imagine another way for them to reunite.
> 
> Next chapter: some place totally different!


End file.
